Apparatus for operating bulkhead-doors.



No. 656,947. Patented Aug. 28, H900.

W. B. CUWLES.

APPARATUS FOR OPERATING BULKHEAD DOORS.

(Application flled June 23, 1899.)

(No Model.)

a To all whom it may-concern.-

' COWLES, a citizen of the United States, re sid-;

' UNITED STATES ILLIAM BARNUM oowL'Es, oroLEvELA Nooino;

' APPARATUS roe o ream-fine no un sau neoes,

. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.'656,94;7, dated August 28, 1 900.

i 1 Application filed M11628, 1899; Serial No. 721.630. (N0 m elvBe it known thatv 1, WILLIAM BARNUM ing at Oleveland,.in the countyof Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in-Apparatusfor Operating Bulkhead-Doors or otherReciproeating Devices; 6 and Ido hereby declare. the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable-othappertains to ers skilled in the art to which it make and use the same. I I

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for opening and closing bulkheaddoors, hatches, ports, valves, gates, and other reciprocating devices, and-while it is designed especially'for use on shipboard it may be; used advantageously in factories, theaters, large buildings,or anyot-her place where such a system is necessary or desirable, i 7

, My present invention consists especially in certain improvements upon 1 the system and apparatus shown in my United States Patents (Nos. 564,474, 589,958, 605,399, and 608,838,

granted to me July 21, 1896, Septemberyl',

1,897,June-7, 1898, and August 8, 18-98, respectively, and more especially upon the matter shown in my Patent No. 631,698, issued Au; gust27,189

The said invention consists more especially in the application'to, the system shown in my former patents of details whereby the apparatus may be operated by compressed air, v which is discharged afterdoing its work, and

hence the necessity for thereturnsystem is obviated; and it also consists in combining a hand-operated hydraulic system with the pneumatic system herein described.

The system herein described is operated by compressed air from the central station or by liquid, by hand,.at each door or other re cipro-' gidevice. L r

' doors, and Fig. 2 represents a central-verticalsection through the upper part of one of the water-tanks used in connection with the hand' apparatus for independently operating each door or other reciprocating device when desired.

A. represents the frame-workof the door,

which is secured to the bulkhead or deck.

(Not shown.) I j E represents the door, which carries rigidly attached thereto the cylinder B, into which "cylinder projects the hollow piston-rod A secured tothe bracket A attachedto the bulkhead, deck, orother rigid part of the structure. Through this hollow piston-rod A projects the pipe c from the pipe 0, and

this pipe 0 opens into the lower end of the cylindex-B, while the pipe 0 opens into the an-' nular spaces between the pipe 0 and the 1101- low piston-rod A and supplies fluid-pressure to or permits the passage of fluid from the C and C open into chambers in the valvecasing D, which is described in detail in my Patent No. 63l,698,a lready referred to, which upper end of the cylinder B. These two pipes.

not beinga'part' of my present invention will. 1

not be further described hereiu. r

. Fluid under pressure is supplied to the valve-casing D by means of branch pipe E, leading f rom'the fiuidpressu re main E, which main is connected to the reservoir H holding compressed air. Air is forced into this receiver TH under pressure by the apparatus shown diagrammatically to the left thereof, which includes a steam chest and cylinders F supplied with steam or other fluid pressure a voir H exceeds a predetermined limit the valve H will close, automatically shutting ofi steam or fluid pressure from the pipe f and This reservoir is 6 steam-chest F and thus serving as as-afety j; device topreven't excessive pressure imthe;

reservoir 11*". Any of the various well-known constructions for this purpose maybe adopted.

The emergency system is operated byimea'ns' of the handle R and the valve Rh which valve admits fluid-pressure from thefpipejE- and pipes R and R to the double-pressure-reducr ing valve Q, fully-opening the same and al lowing the emergency'pressureto flow intothe pipe. E, whichoperates the emergency fmech ,1

anism at the several doors mother recipro 1 scr ibed. gBy' reversing the valve R the com-- 30 'the upper end of the water-tank H.

. in the patent aforesaid.

cating'devices, as has been fully described The construction and arrangement of the valve Q, by means of which the ordinary working pressuresay one hundred and fifty'pounds-is normally admitted to the pipe E, while the emergencypre'ssur'e. say three. hundred pounds-maybe admitted to saidpipe E when desired, is not a part of my present invention, but is well known in'the art and will not be further depressed alt-fin the pipe R escapes through the escape-pipe E into the atmosphere, and the id uble-pressure reducing valve Q sets itself again to passthe ordinary workingpressu resay one hundred and fifty poundsj N-and M represent partsof the apparatus for operating by hand the valves in the easing D, as has been described in detail in my PatentNo. 631,698, and forinnopart of my down, while when fluid under pressure is ad- In=either caset-he fiuidin the-other end of the cylinder will return by theopposite pipe 0' or- O, as-the case may be, and this return fluid will be carried-throughthe pipe H into If the system be operated by compressed air, as has alreadybeen described, the ail-escaping from the escape endof the cylinder B will flow through the valve-casing D and 'pipe H and will enter the upper end of the tank H above the scatter-plate h", escaping around the ba'fiie-plate h and through the holes h therein and then through the holesh in the mufile-head, covering the-upper end of the tank'H". The purpose of this arrangement of, escape-air passages in the tank H is to preventthe air from whistling as it escapes all liquid in the tank H".

In order to operate each door by hand, havfrom the tank, and thus creating an unnecessarynoise in escaping, and also to retain ing previously filled the water-tank H up to about the openings h", which are intended to prevent the tank from ever becoming entirely full of water and which water may be sup- I plied throughthe pipe h, closed by the cap h I pump this water by means of the handpnmp'l through the pipes U andU to the valve-casing D, where it is delivered to one or the other of the pipes C or C by the hand mechanism M or N,as has already been described in detail in"'my.PateutNo..631,698

aforesaid. This water then passes through the pipe 0 or O to the cylinder and moves the door in the desired direction; After one side of the cylinder B is full of water from the tank H if pressure he brought either from water in the tank by hand on the other end of the cylinder or from fluid in the branch pipe. E either for working each door singly or by the emergency pressure the water will posite pipe 0' or C, as the case maybe, into the valve-casing D and returning through the pipe Hwill go back into the-tank H This water'will oarryalong some air with it,

and to separate the two and prevent a sudden blast into the water in the-tank H", I provide a baffle-plateh; but this arrangement of baffle-plates while preferable is not an es- .sential feature of the invention and may be omitted, if desired.

During the operation of the device by means of the hand-pump the flow of liquid from the hand-pump up through the pipe E is pro vented by meansof a check-valve inthe casing' 2 which opens downward and permits the flow of fluid-pressure from the pipegE downward into the valve-casing D, but shuts.

ofi the flow of water upward past this checkvalve into the fluid-pressure main E.

The gage S-indicates thepressure in the.

main

While this specification and drawings represent the inventionas applied to bulkheaddoors, it will be understood that these were selected as theparticular form of reciprocating'deviceto which the invention is probably most applicable; but the same idea may be applied to closing doors in tunnels or drifts ofmines, to closing hatches, elevator-wells, and passages in warehouses and the like, to closing airpassages in fireproof buildings, to simultaneously operating fire-curtains and opening all exits in theaters, and to a great variety of purposeswhere it is-desired to supply a-system for simultaneously closing a number of doors and yet permiting the separate opening a'ndclosing of each particular door without affecting the-others in the system. v

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A fluidpressure system for operating bulkhead; doors or other reciprocating devices, comprising a reservoir for compressed air, a fluid-pressure main leading therefrom, a doublepressure-reducing valve-interposed between said reservoir and said main, a plurality of reciprocating devices all operated automatically by the pressure in said main at high pressures, andv means controlled by hand for operating the several doors or other reciprocating devices separately by means of the said pressure, and a hand-pumpand liquid-supply for operating each of said reciprocating devices independently of said compressed air, substantially as described.

2. A fluidpressure system for operating bulkhead-doors or other reciprocating devices, comprising a reservoir for compressed air, means for automatically controlling the pressure of the air in said reservoir, a fluidpressnremain leading therefrom, a doublepressure-reducing valve interposed between ,said reservoir and said main ..a,,plurality of IIO reciprocating devices all operated automatieally by the pressure in. said main; at high pressures, and means controlled by hand for operating the several doors-or other recipro eating devices separately by means of said pressure, and a hand-pump and a liquid-supply for operating each of said reciprocating devices independently of said com pressed air,

substantially as described. 7

3. A-fiuid-pressure system for operating bulkhead-doors, comprising a reservoir for compressed air, a fluid-pressure main leading therefi'om, a double-pressure-reducing valve interposed between said reservoir and said main, a bulkhead-door operated automatic-.

. voir, a fluid-pressure main leading therefrom a double-pressure'reducing valve interposed between said reservoir and said main, a bulkhead-door operated automatically by the pressure in said main, means controlledby hand for operating the door'by means of said pres-" sure, and a hand-pump and water-tank for operating said deep-independently ofsaid I compressed air, substantially as described.

5. A fluid-pressure system for operating bulkheaddoors or other reciprocating devices, comprising a reservoir for compressed air, a fluid-pressure main leading therefrom, a double-pressnre-reducing valve interposed between said -reservoir and said 1nain,-and normally admitting reduced pressure to said main, withmeans operated by hand for openmg saidyalve and suddenly increasing said pressure, a plurality of reciprocating devices all operated autom atieall y by the pressure in said main at'high pressures, and means eontrolled by hand for operating the severaldoors or other reciprocating .devices separately at both pressures, and a hand-pump'and liquidsupply for operatingeach of said reciprocat ing devices independently of said compressed air, substantially as described. 6. Afluid-pressure system for operating bulkhead-doors or other reciprocating de-.

vices, comprising a reservoir for compressed air, means for automatically controlling the pressure of the air in said reservoir, a fiuidpressure main leading therefrom, a doublepressure-redueing valve interposed between said reservoir and said main, with means 0peratedby hand for opening said valve and suddenly increasing the said pressure, a plu-' rality of reciprocating devices all-operated automatically by the pressure in said main at high pressures, means controlled by hand for operating the several doors or other reciprocating devices separately at both pressures,and a hand-pum p and a liquid-supply.

for operating each of said reciprocating devices independently of said compressed air, substantially as described.

'7. An apparatus of-the character described,

either locally or at a distance, and a local hand-operated hydraulic system operating through the same mechanism bnti'inde endently of said pneumaticsyste'm'g ibstan/ as described.

-dpor and a, ylinder 8. An apparatus of tlze cha racterldese'ribed, o

com prising a bulkhea comprising a pneumatic system operated;

iall y' and piston for operating the same, a pneumatic system for normally supplying pressure to said cylinder and a hand-operated hydrau- .lic system for supplying pressure when said pneumatic system is notin operation, substantially as described. v

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses- Witnesses:

FRED F. WILKISON, M. J. RUDOLPH.

WILLIAM BARNUM oowrln s. 

